Another perfectly reasonable AST idea

[Kabzy]

No. I've raided as a Noct AST and with multiple SCH's who are always on top of their game and know what's going on. I'm quite familiar with the tools because I have a pocket SCH when I tank, and we work out how to do our best as a pair.

Well my point was that you've come up with certain things in your post which simply aren't true, which you would notice if you raided as a SCH. For one, as mentioned above, embrace is not 300 potency, at least not in comparison to our 400 potency heals. It does around 30% more than a WHM regen tick, and my WHM is less geared than SCH so I can't make an accurate comparison.

Sacred Soil is definitely not something an AST is losing out on, in fact I think it's quite barbaric that anyone would even suggest Collective Unconscious as being inferior to the other two 'bubbles'. Sacred Soil isn't something you just use a stack on and plop on the screen, it's used specifically for raid wide damage and usually people run out of it as soon as the move is over; as such Collective Unconscious does exactly the same thing plus adding a very potent regen on top of that. Saying you can't move is not a valid argument, because you only ever really need it up for the one incoming attack anyway.

Finally, MP is certainly not endless on good SCHs. When you're in charge of essentially taking on two roles at once, you'll drain your MP fast. Not to mention some of our spells cost considerable more to cast than the other healers.

I appreciate that Nocturnal AST isn't as good at mitigation as SCH, but if you're making comparisons, you need to at least know enough about the other jobs so you're not discrediting your post. Personally I think AST is in a great place right now and needs NO buffs, it just requires more skillful people to play.

[Cheibriados]

Finally, MP is certainly not endless on good SCHs. When you're in charge of essentially taking on two roles at once, you'll drain your MP fast. Not to mention some of our spells cost considerable more to cast than the other healers.

I would suggest you a bit more use of Energy Drain.

Really, in raids and dungeons Scholars does have a large amount of practical mana, enough for it to not matter unless you waste it all on Succor and Adloquium. Sacred Ground is a great mitigation tool as well, due to the low cooldown it has. I'm using it more and more to lessen the amount of incoming general damage, in much the same way I learned how to love Emergency Tactics. The general idea of damage prevention is lost to the Nocturnal Astrologian, since all it seems to have gimmick-wise is an inferior Scholar toolbox.


And Embrace is half a Physick, almost a whole Physick if you've got Rouse up, at the same delivery speed as the Scholar can muster if it's got Fey Wind, or like a normal Physick if the target has Fey Illumination going. You're doing about 60% of your own healing most of the time.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

Really, in raids and dungeons Scholars does have a large amount of practical mana, enough for it to not matter unless you waste it all on Succor and Adloquium. Sacred Ground is a great mitigation tool as well, due to the low cooldown it has.

I'll let Kabzy roast you if he/she feels like it, so I'll just ignore the rest of your post. But this particular bit I'd like to address.

You do realise that Sacred soil is never worth it on non-lethal attacks, right?

[DarkmoonVael]

I would suggest you a bit more use of Energy Drain.

Really, in raids and dungeons Scholars does have a large amount of practical mana, enough for it to not matter unless you waste it all on Succor and Adloquium. Sacred Ground is a great mitigation tool as well, due to the low cooldown it has. I'm using it more and more to lessen the amount of incoming general damage, in much the same way I learned how to love Emergency Tactics. The general idea of damage prevention is lost to the Nocturnal Astrologian, since all it seems to have gimmick-wise is an inferior Scholar toolbox.


And Embrace is half a Physick, almost a whole Physick if you've got Rouse up, at the same delivery speed as the Scholar can muster if it's got Fey Wind, or like a normal Physick if the target has Fey Illumination going. You're doing about 60% of your own healing most of the time.

Basic rule of thumb on SCH: lustrate and imdom are for more valuable to spend stacks on than sacred soil. In fact sacred soil is usually the last thing a SCH spends stacks on. If its a non lethal attack, the soil is wasted. Lustrate and indom let you dps more, as you can drop clerics and use stacks on instant heals. Energy drain manages your mana and deals more dps. Sacred soil hasnt been worthwhile (except a few niche uses in raids like t11 crit nerve cloud, t13 terraflare) since 2.0 when lustrate healed a lower % of hp and people were still figuring stuff out.

Also in progression raids, SCH do have mana issues. They are less than AST or WHM usually, but non the less they are still there.

Personally I think AST is in a great place right now and needs NO buffs, it just requires more skillful people to play.

Where as i agree that AST is in a good place right now, i dont agree that it needs no buffs. There is one area that really needs addressing and that is emnity management on AST. Luminiferious Aether's Quelling Strikes effects is all but useless, so some tweaking is needed there.

[Kabzy]

-Snip-

So a SCH who keeps up Sacred Soil all the time is telling me I need to use Energy Drain more. Yeah... I suggest you learn that AF stack management IS a thing.

I just hope no one is reading your post and actually thinking it's a good mitigation strat. As Lyrica said, Sacred Soil's only use is heavy raid wide damage in which it can prevent KO's. Using it outside of that scenario is a complete waste of an AF stack (you can use it on Energy Drains ).

Also you only mention Adlo and Succor, both which do need to be used somewhat frequently, and not any of the DPS abilities. Even when using all your stacks on Energy Drain, the cost of healing, keeping up DoTs and using Broil as a filler far outwieghs the regen from Energy Drain and AF. I agree that SCHs have the most friendliest MP regen, but we also seem to use our MP the most too. MP management is a skill that ALL healers need to learn, none of us have a free pass unless you're one of those terrible healers who stands idle when everyone's topped up.

You do realize that aetherflow stacks aren't THAT precious, right? You even have two ways to gaining them now. Shadow Flare does take priority, of course, but prevention is better than curing at all times.

That's cute, maybe you should just stick to WAR.

Also you contradicted yourself big time here. If Shadow Flare, a move you should keep up all the time takes priority, why are you using Sacred Soil whenever it becomes available? ;D You're not only losing out on DPS and a slow debuff but you also waste an AF stack on something completely useless.

[Nathair]

I would suggest you a bit more use of Energy Drain.

You do realize that aetherflow stacks aren't THAT precious, right? You even have two ways to gaining them now. Shadow Flare does take priority, of course, but prevention is better than curing at all times.

So, I'm sorry, but from your PoV do I need to use ED or Soil?
Do I need to keep up Shadowflare and don't let if fall, with the other DoTs, or use Soil?
If, as you stated, the answer to these questions is "not Soil", then you yourself said Soil is actually situational and pretty useless otherwise.
T11, T13, A1S Jumps (when we were undergeared), maybe A3S, Thordan's LB, but that's as far as it goes.
Unless, of course, you're fine with losing 900~ish MP*3, the strongest ST heal we have, or the strongest AoE we have.
Your pick.